January 15, 2009

Don’t you just love returning home after being away for a while? That’s exactly what I’m experiencing right now. Just yesterday, I returned to Hotchkiss after three weeks of Christmas Break. Yes, I am psyched out of mind about being back, but this blog is about the break I was blessed to enjoy.

All in all, I would say this was the most refreshing Christmas Break I’ve had in college. Here are some of the highlights:

-Sleep. Yes. Sweet, uninterrupted sleep. In that sense it was a physically refreshing break. I thought about sleeping less and getting some more stuff done, but everytime I realized this could be the last break like this in my life, I continued to sleep in.

-My parents’ DV-R. (Ok, so I’m getting some of the more trivial things out of the way first.) Arsenal-Liverpool. The Dolphins making the playoffs. It’s a Wonderful Life. I was able to watch all these things thanks to the wonder of advanced technology.

-Time to read. To understand this, see the previous post.

-Catching up with high school friends. I was able to have some great conversations with some friends from high school. That was really encouraging and a lot of fun!

-Seeing “Frost/Nixon” with my mom. This is a film about a series of interviews in the 1970’s. Sounds boring, right? WRONG! I was fascinated by the story of Frost’s interviews with the former-President Nixon. The drama was thick, and the acting/directing was excellent!

-Watching USC beat the daylights out of Penn State in the Rose Bowl. Enough said.

-Visiting the Bolens and having a mini SPO’7 reunion. We stayed up late into the night discussing the ins and outs of Isaiah chapter 7. If you want to learn more about the book of Isaiah and see the story of redemption unfold from its pages, check this blog series out.

-Having time to reflect and remember priorities. After the fall semester, I was pretty tired and I guess you could say “burned-out.” Being able to read journals and the Bible and serve in church over the break all helped me remember what I am passionate about, and now I’m returning home refreshed and ready to serve the Lord!

-Revival: Winter Edition! This last weekend I went on the Compass Bible Church student ministries winter retreat. It was a blast. It’s the most fun I’ve had on a high school retreat since being a camper meself. The preaching was excellent, and I loved working with the guys in my cabin and the worship band. I also got to help choreograph a massive high school dance routine. If you want to see that, check out the latest video in the True North group on Facebook.